Tip of the Iceberg

Worlds are big, complicated, messy things with an infinite amount of detail. A common mistake for beginning writers is that they try to put all of that into the story. At the same time, a common critique on mediocre stories is that the world doesn’t feel “fleshed out” or “well though out”.

So, what is it? Should you not spend too much time on explaining the world? Should you?

The answer for most writers is an approach called “tip of the iceberg”.

• You, the writer, invent a big and detailed world. That is the iceberg.
• But only ~10% of that work actually gets into the book. The audience only sees the tip (of the iceberg).

But even though the audience only sees the tip, they know the rest of the iceberg is there, and they know it’s the reason the story stays afloat.

That’s your job as a worldbuilder. Invent a detailed world behind the scenes, then expertly show the most interesting parts through the story. And show them in a way that promises the reader “hey, I thought about this, and there are good answers to all your questions”.

Don’t start too big

This is the most common mistake. It’s the reason I advocate my hybrid approach: invent parts of the world beforehand, but then just write the story and let the rest come as you need it.

Otherwise, it’s too overwhelming. For both you and your audience.

If you try to invent a huge world beforehand, you have Worldbuilder’s Disease. You think you need to know ALL the details of ALL the history and locations. But worlds are so huge that you might spent years building them before you even write a single line. And all the while, your head explodes because of all the possibilities and things to memorize.

If you try to explain this huge world in the story, the audience becomes overwhelmed. Endless paragraphs of new information, rules, ideas, facts are thrown at them. Most of it will not be relevant for the story or the characters, which makes it even harder to justify or memorize.

An example

Let’s take my Saga of Life. It’s a frame story, which means I publish ten short standalone stories each year. If you read multiple, though, a bigger story/world emerges.

This is a huge world, as I literally try to tell about the history of mankind (but through a fantasy lens). I aim to keep writing these short stories for a long time.

As such, it was tempting to build the whole world beforehand. To know all the locations, rules, and history, so that all my stories are consistent (now and in the future).

But that’s just too much. Even planning a tiny fraction of the world took a long time and made my head hurt. Some parts I planned out didn’t even work once I wrote actual stories with them!

So I switched to the hybrid approach. Crucial parts of the world (or timeline) are already fixed, and have been for a long time. Otherwise, I fill in gaps whenever a story calls for it. For example, I have a huge file with the world map. Most of it is empty for now. But after I write a story, I can usually add a few more locations or details to the map, filling it as I go.

At the same time, however, this maintains the “tip of the iceberg”. I know much more about the world (and its timeline) than is communicated in the stories. Sometimes, I quickly reference a name or event about which I haven’t written a story yet. That reference will only become true in 5 years time, when I perhaps write the story in which that event happens.

Because I know more, I can keep the stories consistent and built in references or hints for the future.

Because I only communicate a tiny part of that in the stories, my stories can stay short and never overwhelm the reader with information.

Do one thing well

But how? How do you pick the 10% to reveal? And how do you promise the rest of the iceberg is there?

The general approach is as follows.

Pick one aspect and give it by far the most attention and depth. In doing so, you promise the audience that the same depth and care is also applied to all other aspects (which barely get time).

It all comes back to the Promises you make to the reader. You can’t explain them your whole world, even if your fantasy series has ten books. In fact, you probably don’t even know your whole world! There are many authors who keep “discovering” things about their own worlds years later, while thinking about it some more.

But you can know almost everything about one aspect of the world. If you put that front and center, showing its depth, you promise the audience that you did the same thing for the rest of your world.

And, as you know now, this one aspect should heavily influence plot and character. In fact, this is a second tip for picking the things you show.

Keep each storyline contained to the (tiny) lens through which the character views the world.

If we’re following a character on a quest to steal treasure, it makes no sense for them to suddenly think about the social policies in their world, or about some culture they’ve never met. The only information that makes sense to communicate, and can be done so naturally, is the info relevant to how this character views the world. (Geography of surroundings, things related to thieving or money, that kind of stuff.)

If you want to showcase different (exciting) parts of your world, do so by picking characters whose lens is trained on that part of the world. (So, if you want to explain about that other culture, add a different character who is part of that culture.)

Let’s talk more about this in the next chapter: how do you communicate your world in a natural way?